Will Johnston
Will Johnston is the main character in the episode "The Dead Body" and its sequel, "Dead Bodies". History The Dead Body Will is a shy but friendly teenage boy who was often a target of bullying. With the school dance coming up, he wants to ask his crush Anna out, but every time he tries two abusive bullies named Travis and Chang humiliate him in front of her. He meets a strange new kid named Jake Skinner, whom he makes a deal with to help get back at Travis and Chang, as long as he helps Jake in return when he needs it. At a class trip, Will's deal with Jake comes into action when he pretends to be a dead body in front of Travis and Chang, and sits up screaming, causing them to panic and run away. Will is happy with finally getting even with the bullies, but Jake doesn't believe it's enough and suggests kicking it up a notch. Despite not wanting Travis and Chang to get hurt, Will agrees and lets Jake continue his pranking. When no one else is around, Will finally ask Anna out to the dance. She happily says yes, but their moment is cut short when they hear Travis screaming in terror. Will is confused as to why Travis seemed so traumatized since the prank wasn't that scary. The next day, Anna informs him that Travis won't come back to school because of the prank. Will tries to convince her that he and Jake only wanted to scare him and Chang, but upon hearing Jake's name, she is confused saying he doesn't exist. A Creepy Janitor who heard his conversation with Anna, confronts the confused Will, telling him that there's no possible way for him to meet Jake Skinner because he died back in 1961. He doesn't believe him, but discovers a memorial for Jake from 1961. Jake reveals himself to him that he is in fact a ghost. Will snaps at Jake, telling him to stay away, as he doesn't want to associate with a ghost, but Jake stubbornly reminds him that they made a deal and he was just getting started. After finding out from the Creepy Janitor that Jake was killed in a fire on the night of the spring fling by some angry jocks he crossed, Will confronted Jake later that night asking him what he wants, but he insists that Will owes him for getting Travis and Chang to leave him alone. Will is then sent back in time to the night Jake died to prevent his death. He witnesses the jocks locking Jake in a cage that set on fire after they left. Will opened it but couldn't find him. Jake then appeared outside the cage with a suspiciously evil smirk on his face. Will quickly asked him if they were even, but he just winked at him and left the room. Then, a bookcase that was on fire landed on Will and everything went black. Will woke up sometime later looking for Jake and found that he was back in 2011 and convinced himself that he finally got rid of Jake by saving him. Will then realized that he was late for the dance and ran outside the room to meet Anna but she seemed to ignoring him (or so he thought). Jake came out of nowhere introducing himself to Anna and asks if she wants to dance. Will desperately tried to stop Anna from dancing with Jake, and warn her about who he really is. But Anna seemed to literally walkthrough him, that's when he found out Jake tricked him into taking his place the day he originally died, and that he became a ghost. A ghost Will just stood there watching the love of his life and his own life, stolen by someone who he thought was his friend. Jake noticed him and said "Now we're even." Dead Bodies Since his death, Will has been having trouble between fading between the worlds of the living and the dead, and is angry at Jake for tricking him. Within three months' time, everyone at Central High declared Will missing, including Anna. However, Will is now a ghost, after being tricked to die in Jake's place. An angry Will haunts Jake after that point, but this does not bother him as Jake was himself a ghost for over fifty years. After meeting Jake at his home and demanding his life back, Jake told him to do what he did, and that the only way to do that was to have a good reason to stick around. Will later finds out that Jake has had a curse put on him by the Grim Reaper, which causes Jake's flesh to rot off until he decays into nothing. Will taunts him about this, saying that "I may not get my life back, but it looks like you're not keeping yours.". However, Jake has come up with a plan to fix this: trick Anna into dying in his place, just like he tricked Will. When Jake and Anna go on a date where Jake explains the situation to Anna (by showing her his rotting face), but she is horrified by him and wants to be taken home. Jake almost guilt-trips her into the deal by calling her shallow, Will finds the power to fully materialize in the human world out of his love and protective instincts for Anna. He and Jake fight, but the latter loses when Anna hits him in the ribs with a tree branch. At that point, the Grim Reaper reappears and drags a screaming Jake to the underworld for his crimes. After that, an angel appears before Will and grants him his life back. Will and Anna leave so Will can be reunited with his parents, with Will and Anna restarting their relationship. Trivia Category:Characters Category:Season 1 Characters Category:Males Category:Season 3 Characters Category:Protagonists Category:Resurrected Category:Alive